University
of Windsor

Dept. of Philosophy
Ralph
Johnson

Dr. Johnson has been with the Department of Philosophy since 1966. In September, 2006, he becomes Professor Emeritus. His areas of expertise are: Informal Logic,  Argumentation Theory, Critical Thinking, 20^th Century Anglo-American Philosophy, Wittgenstein, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. He is currently working on a book about Dialectical Adequacy, which will act as a successor to his Manifest Rationality  (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2000).  Dr. Johnson co-edits the journal Informal Logic. On the backburner is a book (working title: Philosophical Soundings of Rock) in which he intends to provide a philosophical interpretation of rock music and culture, based on experiences he has had teaching a course by that title at intervals since 1974.

Recent Publications

·        Theory and Practice Again: Challenges from Toulmin and Pinto.” 2005. In: The Uses of Argument: Proceedings of a Conference at McMaster University, David Hitchcock (Ed.),  Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation, pp. 222-231  

·        “Why ‘Visual Arguments’ aren’t Arguments.”  2005.  In: Hans V. Hansen, Christopher Tindale, J. Anthony Blair and Ralph H. Johnson (Eds.).  Informal Logic at 25, University of Windsor, CD-ROM, 2005

·        “The Dialectical Tier Revisited.”  2003.  Keynote Address to the Fifth International Conference on Argumentation. In: Anyone Who has a View: Theoretical Contributions to the Study of Argumentation,  Frans H. van Eemeren, J. Anthony Blair, Charles A. Willard, and A. Francisca Snoeck Henkemans (Eds.).  Dorcrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 41-54. 

Office: Chrysler Hall North 2165

Fax: (519) 971-3681

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I love to read, especially contemporary fiction. Among my favourite authors: John Updike, Philip Roth,  Nick Hornby, Alistair MacLeod, Joan Barfoot, Michael Connelly, Robert B. Parker, Douglas Hobbie, and the Bard.  I admire King Lear. I love to listen to music, especially “classical.”  Currently I am in a big Schubert phase, listening to his piano sonatas on my new AEGIS speakers. I also am drawn to Bach, Beethoven , Haydn and Dvorak.  I like the new Springsteen CD - The Seeger Sessions - a lot. I’m convinced that if Beethoven were alive today, he’d be doing rock … in the Springsteen vein.

I belong to The Mankind Project (www.mkp.org) - a worldwide organization dedicated to calling men to consciousness and lives of service. I serve as an Elder and Board member in our local community.

I jog, walk or bike almost everyday.